If, on a hungry afternoon, you’ve been eager to discover a forgotten protein bar tucked in your backpack, only to find it’s become hard and unappetizing after weeks of neglect, food scientist Audrey Girard’s research …
Stories of the Wisconsin Idea
UW–Madison researchers and Wisconsin farmers work together to produce healthy potato harvests
For decades, Andy Diercks, a fourth-generation potato farmer from Coloma, Wisconsin, has worked closely with vegetable researchers at UW–Madison to improve crops, resulting in healthier yields — and robust friendships. “The research team — they’re …
A photo essay of the 2024 Wisconsin Idea Seminar
After learning how to create a warp with cattails, the Wisconsin Idea Seminar participants began to weave, methodically crossing cattail fibers to create a small mat, talking and meditating on the meaning of their project.
Apply to Be Our Communications Intern
The Wisconsin Idea Seminar team is seeking a communications intern! Our communications intern will hone their writing and image-making skills and meet folks across the state who are making a difference in their communities. The …
A photo essay of the 2023 Wisconsin Idea Seminar
The Wisconsin Idea Seminar’s Forest + River experience started under a canopy of centuries-old bur oaks alongside mounds in Willow Creek Woods near the shore of Lake Mendota. A group of 39 faculty and staff …
Inside the ORCHARDS program: How OSD students assist in groundbreaking virus research
“It wouldn’t be unusual for an out-of-towner passing through a neighborhood in the Oregon School District (OSD) to notice someone from the University of Wisconsin-Madison dropping off medical testing supplies on a residential doorstep. Within …
With pocket-sized Hello! Loom, weave got it made
“First, Marianne Fairbanks went big. Then, she went little. Very little. In 2016, then an assistant professor of design studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, she launched a “social weaving project” called the Weaving Lab, …
Media Mention: WIS’22 alum Alvin Thomas on depictions of fathers feeding children
WIS’22 alum Alvin Thomas, assistant professor in Human Development and Family Studies in the School of Human Ecology co-authors a piece in Salon. “As researchers who study the role of fathers in the lives and …
A photo essay on the 2022 Wisconsin Idea Seminar
Lake Michigan and the people who live along its shores shaped the contours of the 2022 Wisconsin Idea Seminar’s “Bay Tour.” For five days along 600 miles, the cohort of 29 faculty and academic staff …
Video: WIS’16 Alum Faisal Abdu’Allah Discusses Inspiration Behind 7-foot Limestone Statue of Himself
Faisal Abdu’Allah, a professor and the Chazen Family Distinguished Chair in Art at UW–Madison, is a printmaker and a trained barber whose artworks explore race, culture and identity. His most recent work is a 7-foot …